Author: admin

We’ll begin this week with a beautiful photo of our valley, taken by a friend of mine, and submitted to our local Facebook site: Community Connect Kittitas County.

This photograph was awarded the winner by vote! If you visit the site, you will see it as the cover picture. Pretty awesome.by Lise McGowan: Sunflowers and irrigation in Kittitas County.

We awoke to a cold morning, 25°F. at 7:00 a.m.
John stayed home today, because grapevine pruning was cancelled with Cameron still in Seattle at Pike’s Place Market. Tomorrow they will resume.

Last night we published the blog.

The following link is interesting about the uses DNR can make of drones in places or instances of gathering data not easily attainable.DNR use of Drones

Morning news from Jeri Conklin in California about “our” Brittanys:
“After a very long weekend of running dogs, Camelot Brittanys congratulates Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ SH (Daisy) on finishing her SH title;” (Next is Daisy’s mom),” FC KWK Windswept Guinevere of Camelot JH on earning two more SH legs, that last one is always the hardest”; and next is a family member), “Copley’s Warrior Princess of Camelot JH on earning her FIRST SH leg with an amazing run as evidenced by her 10+ score in Retrieving. The gunner missed her Chukar and the second gunner winged it, but it kept flying and she followed it till it crashed, over 300+ yards away! She then brought it to hand, solid as ever! I knew she would bring it back, who knew it was going to be over a distance of 3 football fields plus! Needless to say, she will always have that great story to her name, one I will remember as I handled her through it. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our journey along the way.”

I spent a lot of time today looking at alternatives for finding a place to stay to attend a wedding in Vancouver, WA on March 10. I have it set up with friends in Winlock. Now pray for no snow on White Pass on March 9th. All I have to do is stay healthy to make the drive alone. We cannot leave the animals for overnight and 2 days, so John will not be going.

I participated in SAIL today.

John went to town after I got back home. His main reason for going was to pick up a fixed flat tire for his Gorilla Cart used to take hay to the horses. It was a punctured tube, and they did not charge him for fixing it. Our Hawthorne trees around the property have wicked thorns. We don’t actually know what it was that caused it, but John has been slowly getting rid of the ones nearest the buildings where he usually uses the cart. Might be better not to disturb them. Maybe they are angry!

Ham, succotash, cornbread, pears for supper, crafted by John.

Tuesday, Feb 13

After feeding the horses, John left at 7:40 a.m. for WHC.

This was my friend Glenn’s birthday, and his friend took him for a breakfast, at a new restaurant, The Wild Huckleberry Cafe’. He got a short stack (2) pancakes, and then sent me pictures, which astonished me, and I will put a before and after in a collage for you to be amazed too. He said the waitress told him most people cannot complete the meal. I think just one of that size might be too much. I think I’ll pass on going there for breakfast. Before ~ . ~ . ~ ~ . ~ . ~ ~ . ~ . ~ ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ After

My activity of the day started at 2:00 at the Senior Center.

THIS was our second class of Line Dancing today, Feb 13. These videos are for the participants. I have a most of the emails for group members, and will share with them. Those of you reading this who were not in the class, you may just pick a few. Don’t miss (3) & (5).

First – (1) Dancing, Nicole Jones & Katharine Turnage leading;
taken by Elaine Bleggi (I was dancing on the back row).

I alternated dancing to learn the steps and videotaping the rest of the hour. It was nice to have a break from the exercise and get a record of us. It’s difficult to see the steps through the crowd to watch the instructor. We need to have the steps demoed on the screen before as a lesson, I think. I’m not sure of the best way to do that except in advance of class, or to find it on the web and use that. (Someone will have to spend extra time on that creation and we only have 1 week left after Presidents’ Day.) If I were to take a video as these during the class, focusing on the teacher and lesson at the beginning, it would be too late to show before class, because we are moving to other steps each week, with only a slight review of the previous weeks.

(3) Macarena dance (Elise, in NJ, you were right!!)
This one and those to follow, I videoed.

John left at 7:30 a.m. for WHC after doing the morning feeding of the livestock.

Food bank for music and vittles following; on to the Senior Center at 1:30 for a Spirit of the West woman roper visiting the AAC.

I planned to video some of her performance. It was held the same time as our SAIL exercise class, which is cancelled for today.

Once there, I asked her permission and she gave it to me, but did not want me to make them public on You Tube. I told her that I only make “unlisted” ones, which is true, and a person has to be given the link (by me); they are not public or listed by her name.

However, this blog does get picked up on the web, so I will not put any of her links herein. I’ll just indicate what I have, and if any one of our regular readers wants to have me send you the links, I know you have my email address and you can request. I will not list them here, specifically, but just a teaser description for each.

She gave me her email, and I promised her I would send the links to her. She is here for our yearly Ellensburg event, this weekend, Spirit of the West.

Here is what we experienced this afternoon: (It was one fantastic performance; great entertainment). My descriptions of the videos follow:

(1) Who is singing this song? Western quiz to start her routine.
(2) A short introduction by the 2018 Queen of the Spirit of the West.
(3) A clever introduction by Karen to the Cowgirl Show
(4) Rope tricks, comedy, & jumping rope (audience counting)
(5) Watch 15 secs of a Cowgirl Roper Magician
(6) 1 min 22 secs, Displaying One Whipping Good Time
(7) 39 secs Whips Display of Awesome Ambidexterity
(8) A life growth lesson culminating in a paper torch
(9) Ukulele trickster with Ellensburg flavor; watch the Finale!
(10) Bell choir & audience chorus; Name that tune in 4 notes!
(11) Final Five minutes of Fun

Let me know if you want me to email you personally the UNLISTED private links.

As it was Valentine’s Day, I dressed accordingly and requested Katrina to take my photo with the two AmeriCorps staff members who have been so supportive in all activities there this year.Nicole Jones, Nancy, and Jessi Broderius with a Happy Valentine’s Day wish. My hair was rather windblown from the Ellensburg winds today, but I have on my colors, and am wearing a heart-shaped pendant John made at his dad’s when visiting long ago. Dad and brother Dick made things from Agate and other stones, either collected (Dick) or perhaps purchased. The chain was a simple purchase as was the mounting hardware.

This year instead of chocolates or sparkling wine, John brought me a box of huge Honeycrisp Apples and then photographed the box with 9 apples weighing 10 lbs. These he bought from Double Diamond packers in Quincy.

Quincy’s gasoline this week is cheaper than Ellensburg’s by 11¢/gal. That’s a perk considering how much mileage he is putting on going over 4-5 days a week for wine grapevine pruning.

Thursday, Feb 15

John left at 7:45 a.m. for WHC after doing the morning feeding of the livestock including one cat. I took care of the rest.

I managed to sleep some but now all my chest muscles are aching from yesterday’s (particularly the evening) coughing. No other signs so I will go today to play, and continue constant use of Fisherman’s Friend® original strong menthol cough drops. I should buy stock in the company. {John says: Not! It is a private company in Fleetwood, England (north of Liverpool) along the Irish Sea.}

We played at Pacifica today in a constrained space. They are in the midst of a major renovation, and doing it all around the residents. We had a good time and the audience was quite appreciative as usual.

Friday, Feb 16

John left early for pruning at White Heron.
The wind blew terribly here for hours, culminating after he returned, reaching 46 mph gusts at the airport. I am sure they were higher out here.

After coughing all last night and still, I did not go to town today. I have been working on getting better to go tomorrow to play music at Briarwood – they feed us. Currently, I have no signs of a cold and no fever.

Saturday, Feb 17

Started with a lot of snow coming down and now at 9:00 we have ~3” (looks like to me), John has fed two cats, 4 horses, and we are enjoying fruit and bran.

We had a telephone call from a couple in Moses Lake, WA who had a Brittany out of our lines awhile ago; now looking for a pup.

I have to get out in the weather and go to Briarwood for music and food. I have printed some music to take which I got from Katie Eberhart in Bend, OR. She plays as we do, at places around her town with her accordion group. She will join us at Hearthstone next week, while visiting her parents here in the valley. She joined us the last time she was here the end of November.

Nice Facebook message from Jeri Conklin in CA. Ginny, the mother of our Daisy finished her SH title today. Here’s her comment, with picture below:
“Pending AKC confirmation, congratulations to FC KWK Windswept Guinevere Of Camelot JH, now Senior Hunter! … Her daughter Daisy earned her senior hunter title last weekend! What a journey with this girl. Now to MH.” Jeri Conklin with FC KWK Windswept Guinevere Of Camelot JH (Daisy’s mom) pending SH after her name w/ AKC confirmation.

We ended the day at Briarwood Commons Apartments, being treated to a wonderful meal after our playing music for an hour. We go there every 3rd Saturday of the month. Next month will be especially fun on St. Patrick’s Day. They always decorate their activity room, and plan the main course as something appropriate for the month (Valentine’s Day), or a holiday. We always look forward to going there because they love us and are so involved with singing along with us, in addition to pot-lucking and fixing a meal. Today’s consisted of vegetable soup, Jell-O fruit salad, spicy breaded wings, and a bunch of desserts: homemade cream cheese pie with cherry pie-filling sauce, brownies, various cookies, and apple/cherry punch, water, or coffee.

This weekend coincided with the Ellensburg’s Spirit of the West, so that’s why I dressed in my western blouse and Ellensburg Rodeo hat. The red blouse has cloth fringe and silver metal pieces on the front that look as if it came from a western saddle. I should have just taken a photo of the shirt, but here is my collage of silver trim and accents for saddles, which it is based on.Sunday, Feb 18

I slept in and John managed the morning feedings of critters.

I have been working on the blog and just completed the weekly chore of sorting a week’s meds into the daily “pill boxes” for morning and night.

The weather outside changed again, and just started snowing lightly. That did not last long. A little sun. Now a cloud. The weather diviners think our temps are about to plummet.
We would just as soon keep the clouds, because the clear skies are going to give us low temperatures tonight, to 15°; even worse tomorrow night, to 11°. Not nice, but better than minus digits in other parts of the country!

John fixed us a brunch (sausage, eggs, fresh orange slices, peaches, and rosemary olive toast). We had a pound of sour cream that was approaching its ‘use-by’ date so he made a mixture of rice, black & green beans, ham, sausage, onions, and mushrooms. Altogether, it came to about 6 pounds. Now in the freezer in 1 pound bags.

The little birds are hungry today. The Quail have been few. Often they come at dusk. Time to carry out more sunflower seeds.

Item #1: A neighborhood invasion
I wouldn’t normally use this item, except it is from a place very near (3.7 miles) where Nancy and her mom lived north-east of Atlanta. From Valley Brook Estates we have a porker of a story.

A feral sow emigrated from the Georgia country and moved into the neighborhood. She had piglets. With lots of yards, planted with things hogs like to eat, the babies have grown. What once was a cute family scene has become dangerous, creating a nuisance for homeowners. So they say.The whole hog – story
DeKalb County Animal Control officers told them to hire a professional trapper service, or put up fences.
I’m thinking it must be a vegan community.

Item #2: 18 mph

From Wikipedia: Esky is an Australian brand of portable coolers. The term “esky” is also commonly used in Australia to generically refer to portable coolers or ice boxes and is part of the Australian vernacular, in place of words like “cooler” or “cooler box” and the New Zealand “chilly bin”.
We haven’t seen a motorized esky in our part of the world but it is common in Australia and New Zealand.
While it is a convenient way to haul drinks (or whatever) around, one is not supposed to be driving while drinking. Being intoxicated can lighten you wallet. U.S. $370

Item #3: They keep coming back

A Corella (Cocky) is a type of white cockatoo, common to Australia.
Horsham is a town in western Victoria, about 100 miles north of the Great Australian Bight (or the southern Ocean).
They are quite pretty, and apparently as welcome in Horsham as the sow and her piglets are in Georgia’s Valley Brook Estates.Get them out of here

There is an Australia grown fruit called the Corella Pear. Also, there is a web page titled Corella and Cheese Make the Perfect “Pearing” [cute ! ] that could have been about these birds, but wasn’t. Oh well.

Item #4: Rum always tastes better after an ocean voyage
LINK: Voyage of the Picton Castle
When sailing ships were the means of ocean transport, rum was a major commodity. Sugar, molasses, and rum are high in calories and much appreciated in northern climates. Sailors that sampled the rum at the beginning of a voyage would claim that it tasted better after a long time at sea.
How would I know? Anyway, that’s what the Picton Castle is setting out to do.
“Rum History” involves the slave-trade and is written up here: Triangular trade

Item #5; The Eaton family cattle drive

Once each month Nancy gathers at CWU for lunch with a dozen folks who swap stories and provide a few $$ to a scholarship fund. One of the women is Peggy Eaton. The Eaton family runs a cattle ranch a few miles south of EBRG. Each year they move about 200 pregnant cows from down-river to up-river via State Highway #821 that runs through the canyon. Friends bring horses and help. They have a lot of fun.Because it is a State highway, the WA Dept. of Transportation and the Highway Patrol have to provide assistance, of a sort. Signage is one such thing.
I superimposed 2 of the road signs (orange lights on a dark background) on a photo of the cattle drive.
Nancy thinks the one at right-center ought to have been created by someone with spelling skills as refined as her own.

Early morning alarm from cat Rascal, meowing loudly up and down the hallway and into the bedroom that he was trying to tell us something. Same with Brittany Annie’s behavior. They both wanted out to go potty. Normally, they go out the doggie door on their own, but the winds had blown the rug on the ramp up over the two-door access to the doggie “window” door. Annie could probably have pushed through, but the cat couldn’t.

Speaking of winds, they have started again this morning. I hope they don’t blow as long and hard as yesterday.

Late last night we published the blog.

First thing John did this morning was put a large pork roast in the oven, feed the cats, and then out to feed the livestock. I stayed to proof the blog, and found some corrections to make and add.

I finished getting the videos and photos taken Friday at the Heart Attack talk off to the people involved, and this photo I pulled from the Facebook site of the senior center. I should have used it in last week’s blog to go with the information presented. Back middle is Dave Jones (speaker) with Jessi Broderius (AmeriCorps). She’s known Dave for years and set up this presentation. They are horse people.
John and I are in the back right, in front of them.

The next photo happened today in California, in a Brittany Field Trial. That’s our Daisy on point, with Jeri Conklin handling the bird. Daisy had a good run, with finds, and handled them all to perfection, but sadly did not place. Stiff competition.This cheered me up to see on the anniversary of my father’s death, when I was only 14 yrs old. He was my best friend and taught me an incredible amount of things I have used all my life.

Monday, Feb 5

From Feb 4, slept 7 ½ hrs.

A shopping day: We left after feeding the animals and drove both cars to the senior center parking lot, where John left his car. We drove my car, as it only had 100 miles left to go. We did it that way, so we could drive to Costco and come back in time for my exercise class, SAIL, at 1:30, and he could continue home with the “goods.”

We filled up my tank at a good price, $.30/gal less than EBRG’s lowest price. We loaded our cart with all we went for, except one item, which was on order, with nothing on the shelf or in the “back.” I also visited the pharmacy and left my GoodRX coupon for 3 months down the road, when I need to refill my Atorvastatin. The price is the lowest in the EBRG/Yakima area. We also bought a spiral-cut ham for $5.00 off. John will cut off the spirals, repackage and freeze. The remaining third will be baked until tender.
Other stuff was normal stuff we regularly get there. Pate’ cat food is 3¢/can cheaper than any place in our town. We still tallied $242.53 (including tax on the non-human food items). Much of the stuff will last 6 months.

We got back to the senior center with time to spare. I met Krystal Carlson-Tirey in the parking lot at 2:30. She delivered a printer for my neighbor on her way to pick up her daughter at school. She threw in 2 ink cartridges (multi-color) because they don’t fit her new printer. This was a free gift on Buy Nothing East Ellensburg/K/V Facebook site.

Tonight before supper, John fixed us a pan plus 3 custard cups of brownies with our own grown Carpathian walnuts, chopped up. Then after supper, he frosted them with cream cheese frosting. We enjoyed them the rest of this week.
Then we had another wonderful dinner tonight, with the main part being his well-cooked pork roast from the weekend, mushrooms, and onions, with other things, too.

Tomorrow morning he leaves (7:30 a.m.) for his first of the season volunteering wine grapevine pruning at White Heron Cellars, in the Mariposa Vineyard – an hour 20 minute trip one way. This starts in February, for 3 hours, 3-4 days a week for over a month. He absolutely loves it every year. You can look below in his weekly column for a winter picture of the vineyard, overlooking the Columbia River at the old platted town of Trinidad (a never built land scam). Still, Trinidad shows up on Google Earth.

Tuesday, Feb 6

John left at 7:30 a.m. for pruning, after feeding the horses.

I’m going to Bi-Mart and Line Dancing class before he gets back home.Line Dancing class at the senior center, teacher Carol Cummings, white shirt, left of center.

No pictures of the first lesson, learning the grapevine plus some more changing directions steps. Need a video of that.Intro lesson on hands ^^

Parts of the hand movements, on elbows, and on hips & swivel.

I put a request for an extra wireless router out on 3 free Facebook sites, to help run the printer mentioned above.

I also put a request in search for a pair of size 18 blue (or other colored) jeans. My request was needed because I wore my size 20 ones today go my first Line Dancing class at the senior center and realized they’re bigger than they need to be, except for wearing over other pants for cold weather outside bonfires (as at White Heron the end of December) for a Raclette for the pruners and their families.

We intended to go to bed earlier tonight, but failed.

Wednesday, Feb 7

– from Feb 6, slept 7 ½ hrs.

I participated in FISH food bank soup kitchen music, followed by SAIL class.

Old TV stuff: I haven’t located this at a link that’s not on Facebook, but a few of our readers do have Facebook accounts and will be able to reach this. It’s well worth the time. You’ll probably have tears in your eyes, watching some parts of it (17- year compendium) of:

One kitty was in for morning vittles just as John was getting ready to leave about 7:30 a.m. He fed that one and headed up the driveway. I fed the others after he departed.

My funny start to the day came in an email addressed to John about an old car I hated for the 2 years I had it. If I drove it for over an hour anywhere, my back hurt severely. Finally, traded it in for my favorite car (since my ’35 Ford), a 2004 Subaru that introduced us to the line of vehicles we have stayed with. Here is the email received:

Dear JOHN,

Based on our records, your 2000 FORD TAURUS is due for its 205,000 mile manufacturer recommended service. I telephoned Chad at Seth’s and he got a laugh out of it as well. I told him I would click on the Remove Vehicle and I did. Then I also wrote a note to Justin Seth, the owner. We started taking our cars there when I first came to town in 1988, and his father Jack ran the business. The business started in 1955 with his grandfather.

Lee Gobroski brought me a wireless router to Meadows before we entered for our music. He delivered at 1:30 on the button, in his Black Crosstrek. I gave it to my neighbor late afternoon when I got home.

We had a huge turnout of audience and players: Tim, Haley, Amy, Sharon, Nancy, Rita (who brought me my blouse with newly fixed button hole that came unraveled), Dean, Charlie, Gerald, Manord, Maury, Minerva, Laura, and Danny (her son), who also joined the group, singing and playing guitar or spoons.

After music at the Meadows, I took blouses I found in my larger stuff for a gal that lives 13 miles west of our house, to pick up a pair of burgundy jeans with a fancy blouse, that she gave me. Now I have jeans that fit for my Line Dancing class this week.

Welcome to the Windy City:
(these data are from the airport, 5 miles south of our house) Friday, Feb 9

– for Feb 8, in bed 8 hrs., but it was an interrupted, restless “sleep.” The wind quit about the time to get up. John did. I slept after he left.

I was quite tired from a busy week so slept in, after seeing John off to White Heron and feeding the cats.
John called late (12:20) from Quincy, to say they stayed over 15 minutes and finished the end of the rows. Still only 3 pruners participating. Week started with just Cameron and John (Tuesday). Now John will stop at the grocery store to pick up a head of lettuce for me, and be home by 1:50 probably.

I fixed my brunch and will work on loading the dishwasher and trying on jeans I picked up yesterday. I did, and after John got home, and took Annie for a spin through the pasture, I drove over to my friends’ to pick up some special shampoo she gets for me a hairdresser’s supply shop in Yakima.

John’s out in the sun putting roofing paper back on the top of the entrance to the doggie/cat door that blew off in the storm last week. Aluminum sheets roofing has to be added and screwed down. He never quite finished the previous installation, and paid the piper this week.

Tonight, actually late afternoon, we are attending the Swauk Teanaway Grange Scholarship Dinner Fundraiser. Last year four Kittitas County high school seniors were honored as recipients (most ever, I believe). The dinner is covered by monies donated by members of the Grange and the community, and all tickets and donations received at the dinner go to the students. This program started in 2004 has given 28 awards, totaling $21,750. On our trip to the Grange in the Teanaway, I missed taking the prettiest first view of Mt. Stuart from Hwy 97. John says, “One has to love wind towers to call the view pretty.”

When we first arrived, John & I looked at the donated raffle ticket items: some scrumptious-looking baked goods and neat crafts.Colorful handiwork, very large baked items, and evening sunset.

Our table-mates we met for the first time are longtime Teanaway residents, Jane and Kris. We spent an enjoyable evening visiting with them. They faced west, and noted the beautiful sunset, so I took my camera and tried to capture it. My collage doesn’t do it justice.

Our amazing culinary dinner experience began with an Italian garden salad, served by the students. We were then treated to a buffet Italian dinner with Normandy Blend veggies, Rotini pasta, Cheese Tortellini & delicious homemade sauce with seared Sweet Italian Sausage, and garlic French bread. Dessert was a cobbler with huckleberries & raspberries, served with ice cream. Scholarship dinner parts: salad, plate, dessert

Pictured above in the middle are my servings (John’s actually was the fullest), but I pictured mine as thanks to Patti G. for the special attention on the veggies picking through to leave off the broccoli putting in carrots, squash, and cauliflower allowed on my low Vitamin K dietary restrictions. They were steamed and very tender. I nibbled a few spinach leaves from the dark green salad greens but still had tomatoes, specially colored carrots and croutons to enjoy. Dessert was uniquely good.

We got home after 5 hours away to a bunch of messages.

My co-owned Brittany in California is a Senior Hunter!
Today at 12:55 p.m., I received a phone call from Jeri Conklin, that our “Daisy” just received her SH title at the end of her registered name, for Senior Hunter. She passed the 4th leg she needed. Jeri said she almost didn’t get the phone call out to me because they were having a severe windstorm, and she would post pictures later when the connection was available.
She asked me to post a Facebook message for her now. So, here it is, with my joyfulness in hearing the great news about our Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH SH (Daisy). Now all she needs is to complete her Master Hunter title in the AKC hunting test competition. She’s well broke, so that should follow soon as hunt tests are held in the region, and hopefully receive her FC & AFC in field trials for the front of her name. Thanks, Jeri Conklin, (and Kurt) for all you do for her. Sonja Willitts will be thrilled to hear the news too, of her Kip’s daughter and her Tug’s sister.
I received this photo when we got back from the Grange scholarship dinner.Daisy finished her 4th leg of competition in a Hunt Test in the California desert today, with Jeri Conklin handling. She had good bird work and compliments from the judges. Now she will be (AKC confirmation pending), Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH SH
She has her Junior Hunter title, and this will be for Senior Hunter. Now she will be competing for her Master Hunter.
Neat about Jeri’s day in the field, as she also put a 3rd leg of SH on Daisy’s mom, Ginny.

Every day I go in my kitchen and it’s sunny outside (as today), I see a reminder of both dogs. When Jeri came to Ellensburg to pick up Ginny as a puppy (from another breeder, but with our lines), she and Kurt brought us a little solar-run flower, a Daisy! That continues to bounce a reminder of the Conklin family my way.

Sunday, Feb 11

John did morning outside chores, and spent a lot of time in the kitchen on the spiral ham, cutting off the thin slices and freezing in almost 8 oz packages. We should have many brunches and salad additions in our future. He fixed a brunch today with some ham, home fries, eggs, toast, and fruit cocktail.

Item #1: Give live plantsThere is an estimate that in the United States, 100 million roses are grown, shipped and purchased for Valentine’s Day. I suggest giving a potted bush that might give joy for weeks or even years.
Here’s yours.

Item #2: Lake Erie

Lake Erie is nearly covered in ice. That is good news because open water on the lake can lead to much snow. Wind direction has been just right this season to send snow, measure in feet, to the town of Erie, PA. They might get more snow, but the snow job they have been getting – now over 12 feet – is over.
Even the very cold temperatures are relenting. By Valentine’s Day the region might be a balmy 45°F.

Item #3: The game is off

An Orcas Island WA basketball team forfeited a game and ended their season just as they were headed for the playoffs. This sounds like bad news, but read the rest of the story.LINK

Item #4: Career ends

Another sounds bad story from football. This regards long-snapper Jon Dorenbos, who played for the Eagles for 11 seasons, was traded to the New Orleans Saints in August. The physical required for the trade revealed an aortic aneurysm that required immediate surgery and ended Dorenbos’ football career at age 37.
Eagles owner called John and asked that he come to the Super Bowl.
The rest is here:LINK

Item #5: In the vinesCentral Washington’s February weather began with a relatively warm and dry period. The mid-day temperatures have been near 50. Next week’s weather looks to be the same sort.
Over at White Heron the grape vines need pruned.
Last year we started on the 16th – with snow on the ground.
This year we started on Tuesday, the 6th. No snow. One pruner has the flu, another is dog sitting. Thus we’ve only had 3 of us to start.

Weather is overcast today, awoke to 38° and by 2:00 was up to 46°. Yesterday began at 35° with several inches of snow, overnight, followed by a chilling wind and rain. Crazy weather.

Today, we worked on the blog and published it. John took care of morning feedings, including our brunch. I spent time on proofing his edit of the blog and again for spacing, after he put it into WordPress. Now he is out with Annie, brushing in the “swamp.”

I spent a bunch of time putting in my medicines for the week, and now need to tackle the photos from Friday, to send to a couple people at the senior center. I just set up this blog start for capturing this week’s activities, and giving me reminders on things I have to do through the week.

Monday, Jan 29 Our sister Peggy’s birthday!

No CPAP or Oximetry – for Jan 28, slept 8 hrs 10 min.

Called Deschelle at YHC and ask about the scheduling issue. I now have an appointment with Dr. Tony Kim, new cardiologist, at YHC, March 19th check in at 1:40 p.m. and lab paperwork will precede the visit, being drawn 3 – 5 days before. The orders are here and attached to the big desktop calendar on the wall in our kitchen. Also, a call later in the week allowed me to double up and have my device check at 1:00 before the cardiologist one. That will save us a trip to Yakima.

Here is the information on my new cardiologist I will meet for the first time in March. Although he looks so young, he is well qualified, and he was recommended by my retiring Dr. Anatole Kim (unrelated).

For a more legible version of the image below, right click on the image and click on “Open image in a new tab” (on your computer). We don’t know how to enlarge it on a Smart phone.Sent email to KV F&F about Rehab count for Thursday.
SAIL at 1:30.
Busy with many emails and other chores at home and away.
Visit to my neighbor’s.

Tuesday, Jan 30

No CPAP or Oximetry – for Jan 29, a restless night, only slept parts of 7 ½ hrs. in bed.

I stayed home today from town. My left shoulder was really bothering me yesterday during SAIL class, and I did not want to try waltzing today in the Ballroom Dancing class. I think next Tuesday’s Line Dancing class will be much easier for me, because my legs operate better than my left shoulder, with its ROM, and severe arthritis issues with bone-on-bone.

This will likely be the day my Bi-Mart number comes up a winner, as you have to be there in person to claim the prize. They do give several nice things, company (stores) wide, but usually a “last digit” only win is about a 78¢ thing.

We had a nice brunch, and I’m tackling chores again. So much to do, and so little time. Wind is blowing fiercely, with blue skies, white friendly clouds, and sunshine.

IMPORTANT piece of US Postal information. I learned of this from a discussion on Facebook of unreceived or expected stolen mail. A person in our county (this was on the Community Connect Kittitas County site), gave this link, noted it was a free service and she used it every day. I checked it and in about 2 days, I began receiving images. See my brief explanation and examples below. I only wish I had had this in place when I never had a package delivered with pillowcases in it from my friend Miriam, in Alabama. Or, other letters mailed and not received because the mailbox door was left open and they blew out. This happened a lot more to my neighbor, Susan, than to us, but we did have some.

{ copy and paste the red link, below } https://informeddelivery.usps.com
is the link to sign up for the free service from the USPS. Only one person at the address has to register with an email account, and all mail delivered to that address will be included. During the sign-up procedure, you will be asked specific questions (multiple-choice) which securely identify you from anyone else using the system to check mail coming to your address. I think you will be as amazed as I was at the information in those questions. Be sure going in you recall your last residence’s road name.

You will receive a daily email early in the day, when the mail is scanned for delivery to the postal person bringing it to your mailbox. If you do not receive all your mail, you can report it right on line in the sent email.

This is the report you will receive; I have just included two of the type of images delivered the morning they will be put into your mailbox.Interesting, the last one to John Hillquist (sic), a refund for a doctor’s visit in April, 2017, which I mentioned in a blog early in 2018. I followed up on it, saying we did not owe that balance as we had paid it, and why was it coming through so late? Turns out it was their mistake, in both places, but the bill spelled his name correctly.

This reminds me of posted names on a container on John’s dad’s desk, of a number of misspellings of Hultquist for business correspondence as the purchasing agent of Owens-Illinois Glass in Clarion, PA. It was quite hilarious. I also wonder what happened to that piece of history.

Wednesday, Jan 31

No CPAP or Oximetry – for Jan 30, slept 7 ½ hrs.

Food bank soup kitchen music, and SAIL. I stopped by the Safeway Pharmacy for my Atorvastatin. Cost less there than my normal pharmacy, by half. In 3 months, I’ll check and see what the price is at Costco (and consider transferring to there). Right now the difference isn’t but a buck, but Safeway’s price went up $4.00 in the past 3 months on the GoodRx price. So I need to lock it in now while it is lower. Costco will take it once and put the coupon in my file for the next time I wish to refill it. If it goes down before the next purchase, I can print that coupon and Costco will honor it. A sweet deal. Still, all this medical stuff is a pain.

We do not have the cameras and equipment to make decent pictures of the moon. But today was a special day for people who did not have too many clouds. Here in our valley, we were enveloped in clouds. I always can search the web and find better images than trying to do my own.

Following is not the traditional meaning, but people have started calling the 2nd Full Moon in a month a Blue Moon, as this was. If you could view it, light scattering causes the Moon to look reddish during an eclipse. And the Moon is currently close to Earth, so appears somewhat larger than is frequently the case. I got these from places on the web:Red moon over Los Angeles; Statue of Liberty; unsure of location.

Thursday, Feb 1

No CPAP or Oximetry – for Jan 31, slept > 8 hrs.

I have now been retired 8 years, and I’m still being asked to write letters of recommendation for former students. Another is in the process. John mostly taught first and second year students and never has to do this.

I went to the Rehab alone today, taking along a load of stuff for music and gifts. Tonight was the Ice Age Floods Institute, Ellensburg Chapter night, with a talk on the Paisley Caves in Oregon, at 7:00 p.m., at CWU. It was raining when we drove in, and when we returned, and got closer to home, it was snowing with rain.

John and I arrived early to get our front row seats for the best video opportunities. Questions and answers are more difficult, but the presentation is easy to do in a relatively stable environment. I stored the YouTubes as “unlisted” so they are not public, and the only way to reach them is to have the link.You really will be surprised by the content below, and the earliest human inhabitants (Native Americans) in this region; 300 miles south of us.

Using DNA, dating by carbon and other methods, the story is still unfolding of a culture called Western Stem. From 6 years ago, here is a LINK

In 2008, scientists from the University of Oregon and the University of Copenhagen found dried feces, from which they extracted human mitochondrial DNA, dated 14,300 years ago.

The link above is from 2012. Each summer, more is learned. We heard the latest. Below is the first image from the presentation.(1) Introductions, Ellensburg Chapter, IAF, 2 -1 -18, CWU

A few morning chores and we took off for the senior center to take photos and videotape a talk on Heart Attacks and what to do if you think one is happening.

We got there about 11:15 and chose a seat I thought would give me a clear view to record his talk, but his method of lecturing was walking around the room. I finally left my seat and lunch and tried to follow him by holding the camera and moving around myself. The setup I originally planned for was stationary on a table.

John’s working on his part of the blog, this week’s not so nasty news, and I am way behind.

High winds started tonight and continued through the night.

Saturday, Feb 3

No CPAP or Oximetry – for Feb 2, in bed 8 hrs. but it was a noisy, interrupted, restless “sleep.”

Our sleep was totally disrupted by the high winds and banging noises, gusts buffeting the house, doors and windows, awaking John and me every hour. Much happened throughout the night, but about 5:00 a.m. the small rain-guard structure at the back patio door completely blew over, making a loud crash. The metal roofing had been bouncing all night, with the high northwestern winds.

I took John’s camera in the dark on the patio and took some pix I’ve included below, and then John put on his clothes and secured it to keep it from blowing into the double glass patio doors. It was a structure made of pallets and wood with a metal roof to keep water drained from the house roof, into buckets, so the runoff didn’t splash badly on the patio door. Once dismantled, John put pieces of wood and the heavy pallets on the metal roofing to keep it in place until he can clean it up.

In the daylight I took the photos of the collapsed mess. We were fortunate it did not blow into the patio door. A few other small things around the house (mostly for the animals), were disturbed as well. Above shows the top & windblown separated metal roofing. From inside the house, the left end pallet tilted over. That’s its corner under the roof part.This shows the proximity to our double glass patio door. Still nighttime. Also shows the right side that did not collapse.These are the pieces John moved away from the patio door and weighed down to keep them from blowing into the windows. He did this in the dark, until he could clean up later. Nothing much else came apart, but far from the house a 35 foot dead tree snapped off about 20 feet up and the top speared the ground, then broke again.

Early morning I realized I was out of Amiodarone, and had to make a trip to town. It was filled 1-29 and I never received notice, and forgot about it until I needed to fill my pill box for the week. The pills have to be quartered (which the pharmacy is kind enough to do for me), and it usually takes longer, but I ordered over a week ago, and forgot I would be running out the end of the week. We were both in town yesterday, but as I never had received a reminder call, and forgot, we came home without it.

This morning we managed to get there and also participate in their 12-hr sale, getting good prices on chunks of cheddar cheese for half price, sour cream, ground beef, some PowerAde Zero for me, and best of all a large piece of smoked turkey breast, which John cuts up and freezes as smaller packages we can use for our salads and casseroles. We got some other good deals as well. The sale was mostly for folks that will be snacking while watching the 2018 Super Bowl LII. Not much of interest in most of that.

While there I donated to the Kittitas Valley Friends of Animals (KCFOA). They are the organization who has helped us through neutering and spaying, and getting shots and worming, for 3 feral cats (thus far), and we have another male who has adopted us and we will be taking him in when the weather is better on the pass. No longer do they use the local vet service to do the work, because the cost went too high. The cost to anyone through KCFOA is $10 (or used to be, several years ago). Now the work must be done in Seattle. I know a friend who just had a female cat spayed and the cost was $130. I will add a donation when we take our cat in. We have to carry him to town, to a lady who has a place in her garage to contain, feed and water him, until the trip over to have him neutered and cared for, and then returned to her house, where we pick him up, and we continue taking care of him as an outside only cat.

We just got back from town about 1:00, and because we’d already had brunch, I got back to work on the blog and dishes, while John went outside to take care of chores. The winds kept us awake but the power never went off and, thankfully, no damage to cars, trucks, barns, or house. There is some outside cleaning up to do.

Airport only registered 39 mph gusts early morning, but I’m sure they were above 50 out here. I wish we had an anemometer installed. The house was shaking, rattling, and rolling.

As the final comment, check out the past 17 hours of wind speeds (particularly the gusts) at Bowers Field, the airport 5 miles south of our house. As the wind grew stronger there, it lessened here as the system headed east.Finally, you see the last hour above, the wind gusts ceased. However, from early morning, we had a lot of wind all day long.

Good long conversation with sister Peggy tonight about family history and stories.

If you visit John’s TW’NSNN (This Week’s Not So Nasty News) by reading the post now following this one, you will see a statement about his brother. We have now copied and placed it here:Further, I wrote last week that my brother had died. Here is a link to his story in the San Jose Mercury News:My brother Dick

Item #2: Why is this man smiling?
Central Canada experienced flooding in 1997 – The flood of the century. This brought high water and nutrients to Lake Winnipeg, already a big lake. This was followed by a massive spawn of Walleye.
These fish are now maturing and have gotten quite large. A 4 pound fish has been considered a nice catch. This year 15 pounders are being caught, reaching (so far) just under 3 feet.
Story here: Link

Item #3: Harri takes a cruise
A Brisbane, Australia parrot named Harri went missing. Gone for 2 weeks, he was. Then, 4 days into a 2 week cruise from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, the staff of The Sea Princess found the Rose-breasted cockatoo.
The ship was on its way to New Zealand. But guess what? “New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said the only way for the cruise ship to enter the country was for Harri to either be euthanased, or secured and bonded to the vessel.”
Oops!
Communications back to Brisbane informed all that Harri was a pet with a microchip and quite healthy. He got his own room. The turn-around in New Zealand went ahead, and the return trip is underway.
Now the question is “What did Harri know?
Seems his folks had book a cruise on another of the Company’s ships called the Pacific Aria. Coincidence? I don’t think so. From their home to portside would be a 5 minute flight for this intelligent creature.
Did Harri plan to go along, and got the wrong ship?Harri’s story

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.

Further, I wrote last week that my brother had died. Here is a link to his story in the San Jose Mercury News: My brother Dick

I worked on the blog and dishes. John wasted the day away, as usual (his edit, not mine), after doing the normal chores.Glenn & Nancy Replay, of a photo I forgot to include for our music time and meal at Briarwood, 1/20/18. Anne Engels is our group’s tambourine & Maraca player (on calypso songs), and this is her son, Glenn, with me after we finished playing & eating. He came by to see us (he lives there in the Apt. complex, called the Briarwood Commons). She had texted him we were there. The residents brought him over to me and I stood up and gave him a hug (always do when I see him). He was my student about 15 years ago, and has been a good friend ever since. We had a special relationship during classes, because he is hearing impaired and needed to have “Type Well” transcribers (which happened during the class lectures).
Somehow the gals managed to listen to what I was lecturing, type it, and Glenn would read it on his computer laptop screen. He had to read and also look up at things on the PowerPoint screen. I learned to watch his eyes so I didn’t point to the PowerPoint display of visuals while he was reading and not seeing it. I also had the transcribers email me the complete transcript, so I could read through it to make any corrections of terminology or phrasing that was misleading or different from what I had said. I would return those notes to them and to him, along with a CD with the PowerPoint of the day for him to have at home to see with the notes. Actually, I gave him the PowerPoint the day of the lecture.
His abilities to understand map reading and map interpretation and two GIS (Geographic Information Systems) courses, which were full of computer cartography and technical terms and knowledge, was phenomenal. He took at least 3 computer cartography courses from me that I remember, and probably other of my geography classes. I know he audited John’s and my ending in-classroom “field trip,” which was an educational wine-tasting. We team-taught that class during summers for 6 weeks, taking field trips to vineyards, wineries, and the wine-making facilities, barrel rooms, and related economic & cultural experiences via videos and slides from around the world. To this final meeting, the “type well” gals came with him, providing him the comments we were giving the class. And, he had a setting so he could also experience the tasting as well. We mostly had them sniff, swirl, view, and taste, but spit out most of the wines into containers. We had a couple of stemmed glasses for each person and we evaluated about 14 wines.
We had crackers, dried sausage, and cheese to go along and water, and one student brought a cake for our anniversary (July 12), as a complete surprise to us. We paid for the wine and supplemental food (not the students or the state). The class was a senior one (Geog 465: Wine, A Geographical Appreciation), which graduate students could also take for credit. The class has not been taught since I retired. Another two of my GIS classes (one at the sophomore level and the other at the graduate level) also have not continued being taught. End of a legacy.

I worked on house chores, music planning, ate, and went to SAIL exercise class and had a good workout, but only 10 minutes of aerobic exercise. Check Wednesday this week. I returned to more computer chores and finished loading the dishwasher. John worked outside some.

Inside, John has had several old phone books and other things under his keyboard and our modem on our counter separating the den and kitchen. He cut a piece of plywood (top of a wood pallet) into an ‘ L-shaped ‘ configuration to replace the mess. Now he as a smooth flat surface (and I a sturdy spot for my coffee cup). It still needs a better top, says John. He used parchment paper as a quick fix, but has material for a better looking and softer surface. Maybe we’ll have a future picture.

Our mail brought more things to be done. John’s Crosstrek’s license tab will expire in Feb.; I’m the one who takes care of those on line. I have to do some paperwork on several other medical issues. Those are continuing.

Tuesday, Jan 23

No Oximetry to report for Jan 22. I have ceased doing it because my SpO2 has been excellent for many months, and yesterday, I received a laser burn on my finger, because I slept so hard all night I never changed it to a different finger as I usually do. One is not supposed to leave it on the same finger for > 2 hrs. Slept 8 hrs.

Snowing big time now after 10. John should have fed the horses earlier when we first got up and he fed the birds and cats.
I’m staying home today to take care of projects that have been ignored for weeks, actually months since July notification of losing the old email address.

This afternoon, I finally cut John’s hair. It took 45 minutes minus a 12-min break to cool the clippers.

On the break, I managed to send out 5 new jobs to the NW Geog. Jobs list I moderate, and I took another break to feed one of the outside cats who didn’t come this morning, and came to the window to meow his wishes. He is the most vocal of all our cats.

Wednesday, Jan 24

Going the FISH Food Bank Soup kitchen for music and on to SAIL at AAC (my FitBit recorded 31 minutes of aerobic exercise!), drove by Carole’s to pick up mics for members of the KV F&F group to attach to instruments, when we are playing outside in the Ellensburg wind (once or twice a year).

On the way to exercise, I stopped at Petsense for some pate canned cat food because we ran out. We were supposed to get it when we last were at Costco, but didn’t. It’s only 47¢/can there, and 49¢ at PS. Getting 24 in a box for $11.76.

Cheryl C. dropped off 4 plastic dinosaurs to me at the AAC for Haley to enjoy playing with and Amy to use in the preschool for a lesson on prehistoric reptiles. I took those by on my way home. They look small and light, but are rather heavy. Also, I drove by Alder St. to drop off a large coffee can to the mom of a gal on the Buy Nothing East Ellensburg/Kittitas site.

I heard tonight my months-ago plea is being fulfilled for a toboggan or sled for John to use to move a bale of hay over snow. With snow over 5 or 6 inches, the wheeled cart works not so well. A lady plans to give us a small plastic toboggan and an old child’s sled. Tomorrow I pick it up in town. The owner lives in Cle Elum, but will bring it down. We haven’t seen the sled, guess it looks like an old Radio-Flyer, or Flexible Flyer, or Yankee Clipper, or whatever. More later. John says, after he sees it, he will investigate. Thinks maybe he and Peggy had such a thing.

Thursday, Jan 25

We had an early morning call from the lady with the plastic toboggan and the sled. We arranged for her to drop them off at Seth Motors (car repair place), where we have done business since I arrived in town in 1988. We weren’t scheduled in town until 1:30 today, so she delivered and we picked it up from Chad after the music at Hearthstone.

When I turned on my computer today, I had a new screen shot, of some awesome mountains in Peru. I never knew of them, so I searched for more information to share with you all. Also known as the Rainbow Mountain, Vinicunca translates to “seven-colored mountain” in the local language (Quechua) spoken in the Cusco region of Peru.

The mountains’ colors come from mineral deposits, but they weren’t always easy to see. For years, Vinicunca was hidden under a thick layer of ice.
The first link is a story in Forbes magazine by Elizabeth Johnson, “Why You Should Climb Peru’s Rainbow Mountains Now.” [after clicking on the link below, wait a moment for it to come in]

Next is a YouTube of Rainbow Mountains in Peru, caused by glacial action and the uplift of the Andes. The bedrock is granite and sandstone, and the colors are from minerals deposited in different times of the past, on the sandstone.
The video has a musical background of the long hike or trek in to see them (elevation is over 14,000′). You can hike on foot or use animals provided by tourist guides and local Peruvians. The place is higher than most people can get to and, until recently, required a multi-day hike and camping. Now it is easier, but still short of oxygen. Video

If you’d like to see more EXCELLENT pictures of the local people, sites, and animals along the walk up and what to expect when hiking Rainbow Mountain in Peru, you should visit this: LINK

John and I left a tad before 1:00 and made it to Hearthstone to setup for music, and carry in a couple of items for people there. We had a good turnout of musicians, and a large audience of appreciative residents.

While still in town, we drove by Seth Motors and picked up a plastic sled/toboggan like the blue one, with broken handles (won’t matter loading stuff on to pull over the snow).And in the earlier process, a fellow on another Free Givers site sent me the directions for making a sturdy one from a plastic barrel. I saw one (abandoned) across the road in weeds near a neighbor and asked if she wanted it. It was hers, and she gave it to us. So, if it is too narrow, she has offered she can get more, so we are going to request more. John can always use them to store water prior to a dry ditch in late summer. Tomatoes grow and produce later than, say onions and strawberries.On our way home, we picked up the plastic barrel from our neighbor, Joanie. It is bright blue!

Friday, Jan 26

I started at CWU at noon with a visit to Barge Hall for our Scholarship Luncheon meeting. I visited, ate, and left for the senior center, where I was scheduled to be the volunteer photographer at the event for this 4th Friday of the month.

It was to be an Under the Sea “Shellabration”. Most of the participants had left. I was late arriving at 12:30, but it also ended sooner than most events. I got a run down on the events of the day and a serving of egg salad they saved for me. It was served on croissant rolls (because they look like shells). I did not take a roll.

They had blank name tags for those who wanted to be a Pirate or a Mermaid. Below are the pages, with columns, for the name creations. Pick one from each column, left if you are a pirate type, or from the right form if you are mermaid.My mermaid name was Ianthe Siren of the Pearls. I guess if I used my real given initial for Lee instead of B for Brannen (the middle initial I use now), I would have been Ianthe Speaker for the Pearls.

Then we followed up with pictures of me with two staff members:Katrina, Nancy, Elaine with props (parrot, lips, crown, beard, goggles). The attendees were able to have their photos taken in front of the wall hanging.

I stayed for our SAIL exercise class and got my workout.

Afterwards, I used the computer room for a few minutes and then drove to Super 1 to meet John, who had returned from taking 400 lbs of trash to the transfer station. The price has gone up this year; the cost was $21.41 [Fee is $103.35 + tax per ton]. That beats the pickup fee at the end of the driveway. A friend just put an extra bag out last week, and was charged an addition $5. Yikes. It must not have fit in the garbage can. Wonder if they’d left the top off, so the machine could pick up the can, if they’d have taken it without the added cost.

I drove John up to CWU campus and parked with my Emeritus parking sticker to save his paying $5 to park. (Parking lots are free after 4:30 p.m., so that works for night meetings only, not for 4:00 afternoon seminars.) I returned him to his truck afterwards, so he could rush home to feed the animals before it was totally dark. He got the mail and paper too.

Here is my documentation of the presentation.

First, is the location of the Cascade Crossroads Documentary presented in the Natural Science Seminar Series at CWU.This image, being used in poster and postcard form to advertise the Cascade Crossroads Documentary film (30 min), was designed by Daniel Cohn. In the real world, the crossing bridge will have high sides so drivers/animals will not see each other. Also, there are East & West lanes using separate tunnels under long bridges on I-90. The film shows those too.

Be sure you pull the start back to the beginning on the YouTube link below:

Also, please view that above before you watch the comments below and they will be more meaningful. The questions and answers and comments are offered by the team who put the funding, research, and construction together. The video shows lots of folks from local, State, and Federal agencies.

The following three videos I captured from the next to the back row above an aisle in front of my seat. My purpose was to give the feedback back to the researchers. I did not see anyone from the University there videotaping, and I did not have a tripod or stand up to videotape the comments. There was a row of people behind me.

I was pleased to see many of my colleagues there and a number of students involved in the research. I was at the original meeting 10 years ago (in that room), that Professor Darda mentions in his introduction. Jason Smith was a Geography grad working then at WSDOT Environmental Management in Union Gap, WA.

(3) This video consists of comments and Q&A part of the program and lasts 22 minutes. It was a discussion about the documentary with questions from the audience of all the representatives there who were previously introduced, mentioned in the film, or associated with the project and there in person.LINK C

I drove John back to his truck, so he could get home before dark to feed the animals, and I continued on down to Burger King for the special price on two Crispy Chicken sandwiches so he wouldn’t have to cook dinner, and with it we shared the rest of the egg salad from the AAC I bought home in my own container.

We weren’t home until dark, and there was a message waiting from the Yakima Heart Center at 4:40 (late on a Friday), to return a call to the scheduler. I have no clue what is being scheduled. Maybe it is a meeting with the new Cardiologist I’m being assigned to, but I cannot find out until Monday. I want to research the one I’m assigned to before I meet with him or her. I met about 10 of them while in the ICU (Yakima Regional Hospital in 2009; I prefer an MD who knew me then).

Saturday, Jan 27

One of the coolest things that happened in my preparation for attending the Natural Science Seminar, was seeing so many of my former colleagues and students at CWU in the Cascades Crossroads documentary. Then yesterday to be there and see Aja Woodrow in person during and at the end, made it even more special. He and his wife Helen Lau, work for the forest service and were instrumental in the wildlife biology research for the documentary. Aja (pronounced ‘Asia’) and Helen were both students in my Intermediate GIS class, back in the day. I remember the class, the largest enrollment I ever had. So large, we had to have three computer labs scheduled to cover the hands-on learning, in addition to the lecture in a very large lecture room in the computer science building.

This morning I uploaded the videos from yesterday.

I searched for more information on an image in the documentary, of a wolverine climbing a structure. I learned that is a Run-Pole Station, used to capture hair (coat) to determine their DNA. My former student Aja, now a Wildlife Biologist with the Forest Service, and his wife Helen is a Zoologist with the FS in Cle Elum. She is a regular contributor to the jobs list serve I manage. I found these references below, and will stop my research now, so I can complete this week’s blog and get on the things I very much need to do, such as receipt filing and income tax preparation. I need to stay home long enough to carry through on cleaning and organization chores that don’t get done while I’m running all over town to activities.

Here is something else for you to see for background to the wildlife studies happening for the I-90 crossovers and crossunders. Top, Aja walking away from a set run-pole (meat from road-killed animals); bottom a visit from a wolverine is captured on camera. See the article for the reason for the camera picture of the face coloration for identity.

One last informative article before I leave this topic:

Wolverines Recolonizing in the Washington Cascades (presentation by Aja Woodrow, March 2016)

{TW’NSNN}
. . . . from John, awaiting Nancy’s draft of her week’s news.Item #1: Take the next Exit… News from Canada

On the north edge of the Bay of Fundy, known for the large tidal range, is Saint John, New Brunswick. From the north comes the Saint John River and 40 miles up, the River is crossed by the Vanier Highway.
West is to the left, and 25 miles that-a-way, you will see the sign above.
Take the Wilsey Road ramp and follow for about a mile.
The good folks of Maybee Brewery will be happy to see you.
Cheers.

Item #2: Looks like fun …

Speaking of rivers, there is the great Mississippi that carries much bulk cargo, relatively low valued, toward the Gulf ports. Higher valued, and rare, things sometimes take the river route, also.

Ride the River
I wonder whether or not they fly back up and find another chunk of ice to ride?
News media never provides enough information. I’ll guess they are not there just to have fun. Perhaps to look for fish?
Where is the Rest of the Story

Item #3: To the next level in style …

There is good news of the stock market rising in value. I watch this and contemplate what to do with all the money our retirement funds are producing? {Just kidding.}
However, an article about caskets was in the newspaper. It seems some folks just won’t let their loved ones go to the next life in a simple pine box or shiny metal one. They need to provide something special. More fancy caskets
Getting something special takes awhile, so either the body has to be put on ice for a time, or, one has to plan ahead.
I’m planning ahead.
The photo here is a somewhat altered image of the casket R&B singer Percy sledge was in when delivered to the Lord. I’m thinking of having one made with a small fiddle placed where the microphone is on Persy’s. Instead of black, maybe a nice dark wood, like the wood of a magnificent violin.
Of course I do not play any musical instruments, so . . .

Item #4: Breaking bread…White sulphur-crested cockatoos sharing a quick snack and each other’s company in Black Hill, NSW.
What’s not to like?

Item #5: Another ice story…

Fall through ice, get a ride in a van under a pretty blue blanket.Firefighters do an ice rescue
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And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John

If you have never heard of the “January Thaw” you can either look it up on the Internet, or note the forecast high in Pittsburgh, PA for Monday, Jan. 22 is 62°F. It was 31 degrees cooler on Friday – just below freezing.

We uncovered a bunch of magazines with pictures of people (looking for different cultures) for a teacher’s pre-preschool children’s classroom (2-3 yr olds). We’ll drop them off tomorrow when we are in town running errands. {John says, I remember zero from when I was 2, and near zero from 3. I think the big learning experience was how to spit.}

I received an early morning medical message from the Yakima Memorial Physician’s Portal telling me to login for an important message. Figuring it was a response about my change in cardiologists, I tried to gain access. I spent an hour trying to access the system, because I had my username, but not my password.
Once I finally got on, it was unnecessary information about washing hands to keep away flu bug germs, and other obvious things. I requested to be off that part of the portal information, and only to receive notifications for important appointments or decisions.

I received a SCAM call about my computer sending messages, and Microsoft “tech support” would help. I hung up, and looked up the number and found that it was a Fake call – mine came from John Regehr (showed on Caller ID) from number 587-775-0448. I normally do not answer when the caller ID displays a number or name I do not recognize. However, I was awaiting a phone call from the Yakima Memorial Physician’s Portal staff at that time, so I just picked up the phone without looking at the caller ID and answered, “Hello there.” There was a slight delay, robot call, which should have alerted me it was not the Yakima office person I just talked with at Memorial Hospital. First, the caller asked a question which required a YES answer, but I know not to do that, so I said no.

I’m invited to a baby shower this coming Saturday. I received a request on email from the hostess asking me to bring a photo of me as a baby, preferably one under 6 months of age. I have no idea where my baby book is packed away, and is probably in stuff moved back from my mother’s apartment in 1977 to Idaho, some still packed in boxes never opened and stored in our garage here. Most of the furniture made it into this house, but it is too small for all, so some is still out there. It was a moving van full that ended up in our basement in Troy, ID.

However, in 2011, I went to my high school 50th reunion, and remembered that I made a web page of my grade school days to add a photograph one of my high school buddies brought to the reunion, to show those of us she’d known in the Cherub Choir when we were photographed. Our ages were 2.5 – 5. We found five from our high school graduating class, and I identified them, in addition to all the others we knew. Here is the photo. See if you can find me.I was likely 3-4 yrs old in this picture, of the Cherub Choir at First Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA (downtown). Ages were from 2.5 to 5 yrs. Interestingly, all 5 people who were graduated from the same high school (North Fulton High) are in the same row, of the five rows. One of the 5 brought the photo for us to see. When I got home I asked her to scan and send to me, so I could put in the write-up web page I was making on our 50th high school reunion. That’s the last one I will make it to. I have stopped flying.

Many moons ago John bought a large can of peaches, in case the bridge went out, or something. He looked at the label and August of this year was its best-by date. Still he decide to open and start using them. Late this evening, he made a peach cobbler, actually he filled two aluminum pans we get pasta meals in at Costco. Base of the cobbler was a lemon cake, with cinnamon on top. He cut one into pieces and froze them. The other we ate – it was very good.

I talked directly to the County Auditor this morning (I know him), and found that the fee I mentioned last week is not out of line. His office has to charge $73 for the first page and something for each additional page to ‘reconvey’ [we never had it so why the “re”?] the deed into our name from the lien put on by the bank 30 yrs ago. He also told me to contact the Treasurer’s Office the end of February to set up the property tax bill coming to us in April and October. So ends one monthly payment, after 30 years. Another follows.

I spent time on phone with arranging to pay for our long term care policy. However, it is going to work and they are sending me the paperwork to allow them to have it taken out of our checking account, automatically. That will be a lot of time saved on doing it by phone (going through a robot with security questions and non-responsiveness of the system), and will circumvent writing a check and mailing it. This company is losing money on this aspect of insurance, but it is gaining on the issue. Some other companies are out of business. This one is teaming up with a company from China that wants to introduce the business there. Thus there is an infusion of capital that should carry our provider through these tough years.

I had to spend a bunch of time with online banking to re-enable my account. I have been on wait forever. Stayed there, but finally got help and now am back on board. It allowed me to check my bank balance to be sure nothing would bounce of the withdrawals I made on-line today. Somehow my account I have easily checked regularly was disabled by the system from incorrect passwords submitted.

We plan to leave our house about 12:30 to make it to all the stops in town. The first stop was near the airport to leave a package of our already read Wall St. Journals, for the business student. We run this errand about 3 times a month. Repurpose them for her education — what’s not to like. We delivered bread to a visually impaired woman who cannot drive to the Food Bank bread room. She gave me a large flower vase (I donated to the senior center so that we and others can take in flowers and they’ll have receptacles for them), and a blouse with zebra stripes I may wear to a special event there that is wildlife safari-related, or something zoo-like. This week is an event about “under the sea”. The center keeps coming up with interesting topics for events.

We stopped at the bank, but the person I intended to talk with was still busy with another person, so we left and returned. Went by Safeway to get our refund of $ improperly charged for items we bought last week. (I had called it in, and had the ad and receipt.) Their receipts are so confusing, it makes it difficult to check and I wonder how many times no one looks, and they keep the money. This is the 3rd time it has happened to us, on sale items, and on different products. We don’t frequent that store often, mainly for marked down items. We picked up a few things while there, and went by to drop off the magazines with people pictures before returning to the bank about our house mortgage payoff.

Once at the bank, we sat again for a few minutes waiting for the person to finish with another customer. I was approached by a woman who asked if I was Nancy. She is the new manager of this local branch, and had heard my story from her employee with whom I had made our original appointment. She invited us to her desk so that she could take care of the transaction. There is no one there now that worked there when we started. One early clerk has become, 20 years later, our dental hygienist. So Jamie, the manager, is our new contact at our bank.

That was a good experience. She processed the paperwork, and obtained a Certified Check for the ending amount necessary to finalize the mortgage. I signed the papers (one signature was all right). She made copies for us, and I requested an envelope, so I could put it in, and asked that she put in their mail to the Umpqua office in Spokane, where the mortgage stuff resides. She said they did not have a courier service, and it would just go by the U. S. postal service. So, I asked for a stamp to have her put in their outgoing mail tomorrow. She obliged, we said thanks, and left.

Our next trip was by my dental office to pick up the special fluoride treatment toothpaste (prescription required). It’s called Prevident 5000. It cost $15. I asked for a receipt for potential future reimbursement by my medical insurance (Kaiser Permanente), but to have them pay for it, I first have to make an appointment regarding a new prescription, to visit my PCP, and if he finds it medically necessary, he can send the referral for it to Kaiser that will cover it through the dental office in the future. A teeth cleaning in 2009 is what began my experience with endocarditis and a 1st visit with cardiologist Kim, and then on to my heart valve replacement. Therefore, the fewer times I have to go in for dental work, the better are my odds of safety. I believe I can make a good argument for the medical need in my case history. I bought this container, and plan to use it for the next 4 months until my next cleaning, to see if an obvious improvement has occurred. Then I will make my appointment with my PCP for a visit. He is in Cle Elum, so the visit is time-consuming to us and snowfall makes it worse for travel. Perhaps I should get the appointment now for better weather to have the process begun, in April.

We went by Bi-Mart to check our number, but did not win anything. On the way home, we stopped at Knudson’s to spend $11 in coupons, including $6 from my trip to the Ladies Night Out promotion back in December, where I obtained $5 for a gift donation to the Community Christmas Gift program, and a $ for my purchase of nails for John, while I was there. I came out ahead with a nice pink Knudson’s shopping bag. Five $ of the coupon was sent to John for his birthday! We bought an additional $16 worth of common nails in sizes we did not have.

I got my salad ready to go to town for music at the food bank soup kitchen. While there, I learned of a way to hard-cook eggs, so I have to find our muffin baking pan to give it a try. Folks write “hard boil” but that’s now what you do to them. You bake them until they are hard. Perhaps I should have tried before printing the recipe below, but I’ll try it at the lower temp & minutes with only a couple of eggs.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Put eggs in muffin pan.
In oven for ½ hour.
Remove to ice water.
(I checked on the Pinterest site and they say 325° for 25 min.)

This picture is cool and came over Facebook to my account there. It’s from Audra Levine-Fuller who is my friend and professional nutritionist helper that volunteered for my weight loss (& inches) advice and weigh-ins/measurings. She also gave John the sweatpants he needed a couple years ago for his operation (to have loose fitting clothes, requested by the surgeon). Her dad died and her family inherited Penny. She posted this of them doing cardio together. I thought this was a neat photo I would share. It looks as if her dad is also using a smart phone.

After the Food Bank music and meal, I went to my SAIL exercise class. There I recorded 23 minutes of cardio exercise minutes on my FitBit. For this day, I walked 2.02 miles and burned 1,860 calories.

From there, I rushed home to drop off my violin and drove a mile over to my neighbor for a much needed haircut. I had cancelled the last one the end of December because it conflicted with the only available appointment with the Endocrinologist in Wenatchee.

I managed to do a load of dishes before leaving for music at Pacifica. The weather was nice, so John stayed home to work outside. We needed all 12 chairs, but they have done away with the Coca-Cola room and put all the stuff in storage with the chairs. They replaced them with very short and extremely uncomfortable metal chairs with no cushioning. I’m going to have to add carrying a pillow in with my violin, music for me and two other players, and for the audience.

Went to Audubon meeting for a talk on Forest Health from a WA Fish & Game forester. Animals are the main concern of this agency, not trees, so it was interesting to hear their “take” on the issues. We have been in some of the areas on horses, and John has hiked some.

I took 2 duck prints (borders suitable for framing) I got from the senior center’s free/discard table and my guess is they were sent to someone that gave a donation to Ducks Unlimited. John thought it might make a nice gift to give to one of the volunteers. So, we gave them to the President. She thought it was a super idea.

We picked up Burger King meals on our way home, and got enough food for two days for the both of us, for the price of one. One was a complete meal that was free, so we just bought two additional sandwiches (different type, crispy chicken) at a half price special.

Awakened at 8:00 a.m. by a phone call from the hospital about a message I left on voice mail during working hours yesterday. I think no one was taught as I, by my mom, not to call anyone before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. I can understand robot calls (which we got earlier this week), but not personal ones. Maybe I’m showing my Southern Upbringing, or my age.

We are scheduled to go at 5:00 to The Palace Café, where they have John’s birthday card notification at the desk front. We met our friends Linda and Bill Weir there, had a leisurely dinner and visit (hadn’t seen them in several months), and then we left for the CWU campus. We made it to CWU by check-in time, met our neighbors (to whom we had printed and previously given free tickets required to get in), and we checked in together (the tickets were all in my name at the desk at the entry).

We were there to attend Nick Zentner’s premiere showing of the Second Series of videos titled, Nick on the Rocks at the Student Union Recreation Center Theater, which has a capacity of 324. They offered free admission, but one had to print out their tickets or reserve them to be picked up that evening. First showing of these is on two local PBS stations but they are not exclusively there.

If you follow this link: Nick Premiere — you’ll see the animation that precedes each video, and the list of the PBS episodes in the “Nick on the Rocks” for Season II, and also the opportunity we had to reserve & print the tickets.
Link below, but first . . .I got an “unsafe error” once for this, so just shut it down. Yesterday, I was able to access it fine, but I need to shut down my Chrome and restart to see if that will eliminate the problem.
Just beware, that might happen to you. I’m not willing to shut down until I preserve all the stuff I have on my Google Chrome.
Here is a link which will take you to the videos described above:Nick on KCTS9
John was able to reach it today without any issues.
Regardless, you have all the content for them below in my videography from the evening, in addition to the comments from the audience that night. Nick Zentner (Geological Sciences) introduced the episodes and hosted a dialogue after each with comments and questions from the audience.

If you are on the PBS site, (they are supposedly available on YouTube as well, but I have not checked), go separately to each one. They all have the same intro, but each tells a different story. At the Premiere, a few of them had the intro removed (for time). The order is also different on their site than it was during the CWU Premiere.Photo from the Premiere evening at CWU, Nick Zentner

Videos – below are mine from the Premiere evening in Ellensburg. I tried for the most part to record the Q&A and comments at the end of each episode on each video, along with Nick’s introduction to the next video.

3-Chasing Ancient Rivers (with Steve Reidel)
The Columbia River had many different paths throughout its history, as did other major rivers in the state (particularly, the Yakima and Salmon Rivers).Really old rivers; older than the hills

4-Ancient Cascade Volcanoes (with Daryl Gusey)
Ancient volcanoes have been identified where Mt. Rainier-like volcanoes once stood, but now are eroded and gone caused by glacial action.Long gone volcanoes

5-Bridge of the Gods [Bonneville Landslide] (with Jim O’Connor)
When did a mountain in WA state split and slide to Oregon in the Columbia River Gorge? Why, and will it happen again?
Jim O’Connor is a research Geologist with the US Geological Survey based in Portland, with the Geology, Minerals, Energy, & Geophysics Science Center.Bridge of the Gods landslide

6-Columns of Basalt Lava
Spectacular rock columns are on display throughout the deserts of Eastern Washington. How do these stone pillars form? How old are they?Basalt columns

I attended a morning (10:30) baby shower, and it was fun. We started with a counter-top of fruit (grapes, cut oranges), caramel popcorn, poppy seed muffins, the best pear cobbler, and hot beverages. Then we played a game with the photographs people brought of themselves at a much younger age. I picked one in a cute bunny suit, with big eyes. I knew 3 others there, and ironically, the cute pink bunny was my friend Amy. I matched her correctly. The next part was Laina’s unwrapping the gifts. That was a learning experience, because there are so many more baby things on the market than were available when I was babysitting years ago. A friend there with a 4 year old, said many were new to her as well. The picture of me I took to the shower was snipped from the photo above of the Cherub Choir.
So, did you find me in the photo above?

From there I stayed in town, because John wrapped my violin in two coats to slow any temperature change while I went to the party. We weren’t expected to play music at Briarwood until 1:30. I had an hour to kill, so I ran errands, and filled my car with gasoline. Our local price is just under $3. This was the nicest day for the next week, so I’m truly glad I did. I spent a bunch of time in my car reading the manual and trying to reset the clock on my dash. Problem occurred a few days ago, when we came home in the dark, and apparently, I turned on the inside light and did not turn it off. John found the dead battery and recharged before we had to use the car. When the battery dies, all the settings go with it. I still have not figured how to do it.

At Briarwood, we had 10 people show up to provide music, and a full house (audience). They always feed us, and yesterday on the menu was potato soup, hot apple cider, cornbread, oyster crackers, Jell-O with fruit salad, chicken salad sandwiches, which I didn’t have because of the large size of the bun. I made up for it by having one whole piece of dessert and ½ of another. I brought half of the apple cobbler home to John, and a full piece of the other that I had had one of. I don’t know what it is called, but it had a crust, with strawberries, bananas, pineapple, whipped cream, and chocolate sauced dribbled on it. I told John it could be called a Sundae Cake, but it didn’t have any ice cream with it (as in an ice cream sundae). CHANGE THAT THOUGHT… rename the actual name: Banana Split Cake. I found recipes on line and this was the closest pix yet not exactly the same. Rather than pudding, ours had Cool Whip, over the graham cracker crust, and no cherries or nuts on top. It is a no bake cake.The left looks as if it is pudding on the bottom layer, but ours looked more like the one on the right, without the nuts and cherry, but instead, the fresh fruit throughout (+ crushed pineapple).

By the time I got home, I had been away from home for 7 hours, so I was bushed.

Item #1: No injuries reported …
About 1.5 miles north of Lake Erie’s north shore, or about 60 miles north of Cleveland, Ohio — no one was hurt. That’s the good news.

The other aspect is good or bad depending on your view of wind towers. I suspect this one will be available cheaply — if you want one.
Canadian authorities are investigating.

Item #2: It will stink no more …
One of the biggest rubbish dumps in South America has closed in Brazil after almost 60 years.
The Estructural dump, about 18 miles from the country’s capital, Brasilia, had processed more than 1,000 tonnes of rubbish every day.
Good news, then, that it has been closed. But maybe not in the short term for the people of the nearby favela, Portuguese for slum. Folks have made a living for 67 years by sorting through the garbage. They have been offered new employment in a cleaner environment, a recycling job.
Some are not happy with the change, but this seems like good news to me. Maybe in a year or so, they will think so too.

Item #3: Mother and daughter …
Rose, an ER nurse, and daughter Morgan, just a regular nurse were flying from Charlotte, NC to Utah. A man needed medical help so the airline provided the equipment and the mother-daughter team provided the know-how.
The man was unresponsive, had vomited, and had blood pressure of 56/30. That’s not good! Very dehydrated.
They got an IV going and hand squeezed 4 liters of fluid into him.
A Pittsburgh area physician was linked-in and offered advice, the plane stayed on its flight path at a pedal to the metal velocity.
And the interesting part: For the first time ever, Morgan forgot about her fear of flying.